End homophobic bullying - Illingworth

Councillor Ruth Illingworth has said that Irish schools are 'institutionally homophobic' and that they must to do more to ensure that bullyingbecause of sexuality...is dealt with a zero tolerance policy.Councillor Illingworth spoke at length at last week"s Town Council meeting where she had tabled a motion to discuss the attitude of schools toward homophobic bullying.Cllr Illingworth quoted statistics from a survey of gay and lesbian teenagers completed last year which revealed that 28 per cent of those asked said that they had contemplated suicide due to bullying at school.'This is a subject which is never discussed in schools and gay relationships are not considered in terms of sex education,' said cllr Illingworth. 'Being a teenager is scary enough but when you feel that you are different when all you want to do is to fit in, then that is really scary.'81 per cent of gay adults are happy in themselves but what about the vulnerable young people, those aged between 13 and 24? I believe that a part of the problem is because our schools are under church control and I would say that the ethos of the churches is institutional homophobia.'People will have learned from the Pope and from his predecessor that gay people are considered evil by the church.'But being gay is not a crime and I would challenge all schools that if you consider yourselves to be at all Christian, then you should prove it. Currently there is an obsessive hatred of homosexuals.'This is a republic and in a republic everyone has a right to be treated as an equal. It is time that we started living by genuine republican values.'Cllr Illingworth was backed by her town council colleagues Frank McIntyre and Betty Doran who said that she should be praised for her courage in raising what had until quite recently been a taboo issue.'I have sat with families whose children have committed suicide, in fact I was involved with 24 coroner"s court cases over the years and I can say that I know that at least one was definitely due to this type of bullying,' said cllr McIntyre.Cllr Doran also said that denomination was of no relevance to this issue and called for a more sympathetic approach to the problem.'The basis of any faith is Love Thy Neighbour as Thyself and that is what we should all be doing,' she said.